(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-41959290-1', 'smarthive.com'); ga('send', 'pageview');

Buzz

Articles. Insights. Considerations.
Aug 15
0

How to gauge brand engagement

By | Strategy

See me. Love me. Let me be your bestie. Everyone and every brand has the same goal. We want to be loved by you. And, like the high school experience in America, forming attachments and developing relationships can be confusing, exciting, and dramatic. What starts out as promising interest can quickly devolve into dislike and defriend.

What makes interacting with others so confusing and difficult is our tendency to let the reactions of others guide our choices. If we let our actions be guided entirely by the feedback of others, we lose ourselves and our personality in the process.

Brands, especially, fall prey to paralysis by engagement analysis. “Playing it safe”, “going with the tried and true,” Read More

Feb 24
0

Data journalism + content marketing

By | Content, Strategy

Content marketing is very popular. 88% of marketers say they use content marketing and three-quarters of all marketers plan on producing more this year. That is a lot of content being generated on behalf of brands, despite the fact that 44% of marketers are neutral on its effectiveness. Despite having a huge number of forms of content to deliver—blogs, videos, infographics, slideshows, articles, listicles, webinars—the effectiveness of the content is really dependent upon the story of the content itself. If a brand’s story isn’t worth telling, is it really worth a listicle or motion graphic? Isn’t the real opportunity for content marketing in the data behind the story that behind the content marketing tactic? Read More

Jan 22
0
UN Sustainable Develompent Knowledg Platform Goals

Solving problems close to home

By | Creativity, Design, Strategy

It’s striking how easy it is to see other people’s problems. Other countries, other communities, other cultures all have lots of problems which seem pretty clear to me when I don’t experience them. Looking out at others provides enough distance—emotional and intellectual—to arrogantly assess what’s wrong “over there.” It’s much harder and much more relevant to focus on the problems we have closer to home. Solving these problems is much more actionable and in some ways more relevant than trying to figure out how to help people who are world’s away.

The challenge is that the problems in our own homes and neighborhoods are laden with emotion. These emotions—fear, anger, resentment—can stop us from Read More

Dec 22
0
creative strategy vision path

Why you need a creative strategy

By | Strategy

Creative strategy is elusive. Unlike a marketing strategy or a communications strategy, your vision and plan for producing outstanding creative work can not follow a canned approach. The nature of creative strategy is to go into the unknown and return with something that is original and moving. And it is very dependent upon the people involved.

One of the reasons creative strategy is so hard is that ultimately you can not control the end result. The goals themselves are often both specific and broad, which is why creativity is required. Read More